To The Golf Courses of Yesteryear

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Oostvoorne Golf Links. (1926 – 1939)

In 1926 the “Corinthians” reports that Golfclub Voorne had laid out an 18-hole golf course at Oostvoorne near Rotterdam on an area of 55 ha under the supervision of the English golf professional Chas. Warren, who at that time was the professional at Knokke (Belgium).

The 18-hole golf course had a length of 5,373m for gentlemen, the scratch score was 69. It was the second 18-hole golf course in the Netherlands. In 1931 “Guide Plumon” also reports that in 1926 the first golf school in the Netherlands was opened by Golfclub Voorne in Rotterdam. The golf school was run by the then Voorne Golfclub golf professional H.Burrows on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at half ten in the morning in the dance-room of the “La Gaeté” (Grand Theater) on the Pombenburg island at Rotterdam.

By 1931 Golfclub Voorne had only 27 members (it should be noted that at this time even a club like Royal Hague GC had only 100 members.) The amateur course record stood at 72 strokes, the professional course record was 63.

The Golf Links in 1931.

Course layout in 1931.

Above picture shows the clubhouse in 1938.

View of the golf course in 1938. Above images from the Dutch magazine Golf 15th July 1938.

The “Algemeen Handelsblatt” dating April 27th 1939 reported that the Golfclub Voorne has closed its 18-hole golf course, as the foundation of the Rotterdamsche Golfclub, which was founded in 1933 operating a 9-hole course much nearer to Rotterdam city centre, has taken away many golfers from Voorne.

Dutch golf historian Robin Bargmann reports, that the grounds of the golf course were owned by the family Van Hoey Smith (Rotterdam shipping) and after the club ceased to exist before the war the grounds were transferred to Landschap Zuidholland and were opened to the public.

The family also owned the country house 'Schaapskooy' that Robin believes no longer exists. During an on-site visit in September 2010 Robin was able to retrace quite a number of holes and identify past fairways, tees, bunkers and greens using a course layout map and google-earth overlay done by Christoph Meister. Because it is a public park now most of the terrain has been preserved although trees and bushes have encroached quite a bit.

Google Earth overlay of the course by Christoph Meister.

Robin Bargmann believes that most of the hole locations are still in existence and could be reconstructed. The original wooden clubhouse was demolished about eight years ago although a small part remains and is used as a shed. During WWII sections of Oostvoorne were evacuated by the German military and the clubhouse was used as housing for people who had to leave heir homes. Another wooden shed across the road used for green-keeping materials was used by a boy scouts group. This has also been demolished and replaced by a new wooden building for the group. Robin met with the Acela of the boy-scouts who had actually lived in the clubhouse as a kid. The clubhouse had two sections; the main room with bar and restaurant and the dressing rooms with lockers and showers.